upon it have proved unusually healthy. She made sixteen spools of strong silk, spun some with a device of her own, and saved about one thousand good eggs for the second season. For the spools she received premiums from the Huntsville Mechanical and Agricultural Fair. Having become satisfied of the ultimate success of the enterprise, the Lowery family and the boys and girls in the school devoted all their time not required by the curriculum of the institution to the eggs and worms. This first success attracted considerable attention among the prominent citizens, and generous offers of assistance were made by some of the large landed proprietors, who saw in the introduction of the new cultivation a source of wealth capable of well-nigh indefinite development. Among those who take an active interest in the introduction of the silk-worm culture is one of the ante-bellum Governors of the State, Reuben Chapman, on whose estate Mr. Lowery's Industrial Academy is situated.
